"Lord of the Bears (Wild Ridge Bears Book 1)" by Kimber White is the first book this reader has read by the author, and I did enjoy her writer's voice. It was warm and inviting, yet at times, it felt like small chunks of the tale might be missing - like perhaps it was part of the writer's back story information she referred to, being completely familiar with it herself, and forgetting we readers are actually not privy to her notes, only what she has on these pages. When this reader ran across this issue several times, it was a definite "Huh?" moment and she found herself flipping back a page or two to see if she'd missed something. There were also a few spelling, frammar and punctuation errors along the lines a missing or added/extra word in a sentence and fragmented sentences that seemed to be unintentional. With that said, this reader still enjoyed the tale and White's writing style. It did take a little longer for this reader to develop a connection to the main characters; readers are introduced to love interest Jax Lord in his bear state, so his thinking was a bit muddled and unclear - which is likely to be expected upon first waking from hibernation... but it made it difficult for this reader to start feeling empathy for or with him. Protagonist Nora seemed wimpy and full of large doses of false bravado and at times, too full of herself. When this reader finally realized Nora was twenty-one, most of that clicked into place under the generalized heading of, "Okay, typical teen or young adult views on life!" and she was able to start building a connection to Nora. The book has a slow sensual build, culminating in some "okay" sex scenes with just enough graphic detail to get the point across on what is happening, but made the act seem too fast for as much passion the characters stated they felt. Then again, this reader also understands not all writer's will write sex scenes like Gena Showalter, Lynsay Sands, or new writer Tamsin Ley, either. On a side note, the included two chapters of a previously written book where Jax was apparently first introduced, sounded highly appealing and interesting to this reader. Gotta love an arctic wolf! Dialogue was natural sounding, believable, and authentic to each character. Even with the small-ish gaps and errors found, this was still an enjoyable and entertaining read. It was fairly quick paced around a third of the way through the book, until the end. It is a stand alone with a happily ever after ending for Jax and Nora, but does have a larger issue that will likely be addressed in each additional part of the series, so no cliff hanger, per se. This reader is still on the fence as to whether or not she will continue with the series, even though she did enjoy the tale for the most part. Actually, it is far more likely this reader will go back and try one of White's earlier series, first, and take it from there. However, this reader will recommend the writer and this story with the warnings given in this review. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on July 14, 2017 and Goodreads on the same date. **
